Taunton school abuse investigation nears end

Friday

Apr 4, 2014 at 5:29 PMApr 4, 2014 at 5:33 PM

Staff Reporter

TAUNTON — Taunton police have neared the end of their investigation into abuse allegations leveled by a city parent against an East Taunton Elementary School staff member. Although the case is not closed, police have not filed charges.

“As it stands right now, Detective Sergeant Santos has not completed his report on the incident and is still following up on a couple of items,” Taunton police Chief Edward Walsh wrote in an email. “Once he has completed these tasks he will submit his report and we will conclude our investigation and make known what we determine.”

Taunton Schools Superintendent Julie Hackett said that the complaint was “thoroughly investigated.”

“Our investigation yielded no evidence of wrongdoing by the employee in question — a person who has an exemplary track record in the Taunton Public Schools,” she said last week. “The Taunton Police Department came to the same conclusion as the school department, and found no evidence of wrong-doing.”

Walsh did not dispute the schools’ findings.

“To date we have discovered nothing to lead us to believe that our conclusions will be different from those reached by the school department in its internal investigation,” Walsh said.

East Taunton Elementary principal Daniel Fagan sent a letter home to parents on March 31.

“I want to thank those of you who brought to my attention the photos and postings that are circulating on social media and call into question the safety and security of East Taunton Elementary School,” Fagan wrote. “As you may have heard, last week a parent from East Taunton Elementary School alleged that she witnessed a staff member assault her daughter.”

The parent, Kristine Melo, posted a long account of the alleged abuse incident on her Facebook page and provided photographs and medical records to support her claims. She said she witnessed a staff member injure her daughter, but the school department would not provide her with the name of the staff member.

“Student safety remains our top priority so allegations of this magnitude prompted an immediate and thorough investigation,” Fagan wrote in his letter home to parents. “I want to assure you that the investigation yielded no evidence of any wrongdoing by any East Taunton Elementary School staffer, and this was the same conclusion drawn by the Taunton Police Department.”

“As a parent, myself, I can understand why allegations of this nature may be upsetting. I assure you that East Taunton Elementary School is, as ever, a safe school filled with caring professionals who dedicate their lives to taking care of your children.”

Melo said she traveled with her daughter to Fall River on Friday to meet with representatives from the Children’s Advocacy Center of Bristol County.

She said, however, that it felt good to finally hear her daughter tell an investigator her side of the story.

“Finally somebody spoke to her,” Melo said. “The school came to their decision without even speaking to her. They’re like a secret society. They get to judge their own peers. There was no thorough investigation.”

Melo said police also told her that they would most likely not be filing criminal charges.

“They told me they could not say more but that their investigation would wrap up soon,” Melo said. “We told the whole truth. We have pictures. We have documentation. And nothing happened. She’ll be in a splint for three weeks, but they’re just sweeping this away.”